I can’t even fathom how anyone could ever become so twisted and disturbed in life to be this cruel, this sick, this evil – to be able to rape your own 10 year old daughter by first drugging her, then killing her and then chopping her body up and burning it to dispose of the evidence. What kind of mother could do such a thing? What kind of man could do such a thing?

Days like today I hope there is an eternal hell. Because it’s the only suitable justice I can fathom for someone this dark and utterly evil. They deserve no forgiveness, no second chance, no chance of eternal parole. Even eternal damnation is insufficient.

I’ve heard so many people throughout my life tell me that they don’t believe in God, because how could there be so much evil in this world if God existed? They point to all the darkness, selfishness, and evil that we all see and feel every single day.

Did God do this? Of course not. People did it. Why do we blame God for all of this evil that we – humanity – perpetrate? Do we expect God to stop every single bit of evil anyone is going to do? What kind of free will is that? We might as well be robots then; we don’t need a brain.

What kind of expectation is that? What kind of logic is that? It’s simply called deflection of blame. Not accepting responsibilty ourselves, for our own collective failures in this world. We all share the blame to a degree. Every day we have the choice whether we want to help someone or help ourselves. Every day we have the choice of our own immediate pleasure and gratification, or doing something that might make this world slightly less dark, less evil.

Human beings are creating this evil, not God. Maybe not even the devil, if he exists. Maybe the devil resides in each of us, our selfish and evil ways. And the good within us is constantly battling against this evil. When we give in to our utterly selfish ways, this kind of evil becomes possible. Maybe. Maybe. I don’t know.

But what I do know is that evil is like a gathering cloud. It doesn’t instantly become pitch black. It slowly takes times for the skies to darken. And the time between the open skies and the darkened sky is the time for a billion decisions each of us have the potential to make – to either lessen the darkness, or enhance it. We do. Not God.

I once wrote in one of my favorite blogs about “Syrian Refugees and Six Degrees of Separation”:

“It doesn’t take a whole lot to change the world. There are very few degrees of separation between any one of us and every other human being on this planet. Six degrees connects everyone to everyone else. Five small gestures can bridge the gap between Muslims and Christians, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, starving and filled.”